Saudi hospital staff strike over unpaid wages

“We are on strike,” a nurse at Saad Specialist Hospital in the Gulf coast city of Al-Khobar told AFP by telephone.

“We didn’t receive any salary for three-and-a-half months,” she said, unwilling to be identified out of fear of being fired.

She said the hospital is part of Saad Group, whose website says the Saudi-based firm runs “diversified businesses” in the Gulf and has investments around the world.

The finance and construction conglomerate controlled by Saudi billionaire Maan al-Sanea made a high-profile and acrimonious split from another Saudi business group, the Algosaibi family, in the wake of the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.